Meet the volunteer Board Members behind STEP

STEP is a profit-redistributing company, investing 100% of our profits back into the local community. When we started in 1983 we wanted to build more than just an office block, more than a business park, and more than other business support organisations we wanted to be unique and to make an impact.

We wanted to not only build a community of businesses where companies could start, grow and lean on each other in a supportive environment, we had ambitions to make Stirling the number one place to do business.

This hasn’t changed, we exist to help build a successful Stirling.

In order to protect the company’s assets and ensure our activity aligned with our purpose, a volunteer board was put in place and to this day it is this voluntary board, behind the scenes, that ensures STEP’S Leadership Team are supported to achieve their goals and make STEP successful.

These Board Advisers provide extensive experience in public administration and private business which is a perfect complement to the scope of STEP. The Board consists of two elected members of the Stirling Council and nine independent directors, who each bring a wealth of knowledge and skills.

As directors, these members are responsible for guiding the Leadership Team and the strategic direction of the organisation and meet several times a year.

Mary McLuskey

Mary McLuskey (Chair-Person)

Mary McLuskey, MBA, is a strategic leader and transformation specialist with over 30 years’ experience across public, private and third sectors.

She is recognised for guiding organisations through complex change — from digital modernisation and operational redesign to major cultural and organisational shifts.

As Director and Co‑Founder of IVARTY Consulting, Mary works directly with C‑suite and senior leadership teams to improve performance, redesign services and deliver sustainable results. She combines strategic insight with practical delivery, ensuring organisations move from vision to execution with clarity, strong governance and confident leadership.

Her earlier career includes senior roles such as Chief Executive, COO, Programme Director and Consulting Director, where she led portfolios up to £60 million and delivered high‑impact programmes across health, justice, education and the charity sector. She is the published author of Introducing Investors in People (Kogan Page, 1996, 1999), an ILM‑accredited coach, and the founder of the National Green Standard — an ESG framework adopted across multiple sectors.

Mary brings a blend of strategic clarity, governance expertise, digital understanding and the ability to galvanise people around shared purpose, turning complex challenges into measurable outcomes.

Outside of work, Mary is a published writer of short stories and poetry, sings soprano in a local choir, and enjoys walking and the gym. She lives in Cambusbarron.

Craig Clinton

Craig Clinton is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of experience working with business in the local community. Craig currently works with Drummond Laurie based in Grangemouth and provides support to wide range of clients across the Forth

Craig qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2002 and spent the early part of his career working in audit at a large national firm. He spent 2 years acting as the financial controller for one of Scotland’s largest privately owned companies before he returned to general practice and has spent the majority of his career as a director/partner within local independent accountancy firms.

Craig has a wide range of experience, providing advice and services to businesses of all sizes in various legal forms. While specialising in audit he also provides advice to a number of non-audit clients and likes nothing more than being part of the growth journey of an emerging business.

He specialises in advising and auditing owner managed businesses and over the years has experienced most industries and sectors, he has had a significant presence within the agriculture, construction, and hospitality sectors. As well as having had a strong focus on the charities and not for profit sector throughout his career.

Craig has strong interest in supporting emerging business and ensuring the development of the younger workforce. In this regard he acts a mentor on a number of government supported growth and enterprise programmes

Angela Watt

Angela Watt is a systems-minded charity and cultural sector leader and a Director on the STEP Board. As Founder & CEO of Resonate Together, she leads place-based regeneration in Clackmannanshire through creativity, collaboration and care — including the Creative Scotland Place Partnership and the Carsebridge Cultural Campus. Angela is widely recognised for her ability to build cross-sector partnerships that turn community ambition into practical delivery.

Angela developed The Co-bhrìgh Model™, a WholeSystem framework aligning culture, economy and wellbeing. Her work focuses on inclusive governance, skills and employability, and the ethical use of technology — including the application of AI for community benefit. She brings a strong track record in stakeholder engagement, programme design and securing investment for community-led heritage and innovation projects.

As a sculptor by trade, Angela understands the power of creativity to communicate, connect and heal. When she founded Resonate Together in 2010, her focus on full inclusion, trust and equality — combined with using the creative process to bring communities together — enabled the charity to flourish. Resonate Together creates safe, kind and positive spaces where individuals can connect deeply with themselves and with one another, strengthening community resilience and a sense of belonging.

Committed to cultural democracy and the wellbeing economy, Angela works to create environments where people feel seen, heard and empowered to act.

Angela joined the STEP Board to ensure the third sector has a strong voice at a strategic level — shaping decisions that influence enterprise, community development and sustainable economic growth across Central Scotland.

Evan McLean

Evan has lived in the Stirling area all of his life, having attended Balfron High School before commencing a career with Bank of Scotland. He worked for the Bank for 35 years before taking a senior economic development role with City of Edinburgh Council.

Evan is a qualified Chartered Banker and experienced business adviser with many years’ experience in commercial banking and providing specialist consultancy to businesses with growth potential. The satisfaction of working with businesses at all stages has been most rewarding for Evan, especially as many of them have since gone on to become established brands in the UK and abroad.

Since retiring in 2022, Evan joined the Board of Camphill Blair Drummond and previously served as an Independent Director on the Board of Scottish Clubsport. Evan joined the STEP Board in March 2024, and carried out the role as Interim Chair of the Board until February 2026.

Today, Evan lives in Buchlyvie with his wife Sheena and his hobbies include golf, football (which he no longer plays) and listening to music… although being married to an ex-music teacher, it’s fair to say the couple’s tastes in music differ considerably!

Graham Robertson

Graham Robertson comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. His namesake and grandfather started what we know today as Graham Robertson Electrical in 1934. Graham’s father Lionel joined the Electrical business in the early 60s and developed the business by creating a dealership agreement with Sony (UK) Ltd and achieving Sony Centre status.

In 1985 Graham joined his father in the business and expanded the contracting division and subsequently diversified into the Security Industry. He then spent the next two decades growing the business strategically, being involved in buying and leasing property. Managing and training staff in sales and marketing. Retail expansion began in 2003 with the opening of the Falkirk Sony Centre, which received the “UK Sony Centre of the Year” award in 2005.

In 2020 Graham sold the business to Paul Connolly owner of CSS Ltd (Scotland’s largest independent security firm) which included keeping the GRES branding, the Stirling office and the staff.

Graham joined STEP with a huge amount of experience in managing, growing, diversifying and ultimately exiting a business. He joined STEP in 2021 keen to share his diverse knowledge of everything that comes with managing a family business and ultimately exiting, as he found there was a lack of support for the topic.

Tom Marchbanks

Tom Marchbanks is a retired British diplomat and international trade expert with over 30 years of experience in high-profile political and economic development positions based around the world. Having led the trade and investment operations of both national and regional UK Governments and having run inward investment programmes for the governments of both the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kingdom of Bahrain, he has established an extensive Middle Eastern business network.

Tom established his own economic development consultancy delivering projects for a variety of economic development agencies and brings to STEP a combination of diplomatic skills, cultural awareness, business acumen, institutional decision making and a strategic global outlook.

Most recently, Tom has been running a Scottish Government innovation hub demonstrating the latest connectivity and IoT technologies to both the public and private sectors and is currently helping to `spin-out’ a high-growth start-up from the University of Glasgow.

As a leader, Tom understands the challenges of leading successful delivery teams and his work with Scottish Development International saw Scottish exports to the Middle East double over his time as Director of their operation there. Tom was awarded the General Service Medal (with Gulf clasp) during RN mine clearance operations in the Arabian Gulf in 1987 demonstrating his commitment and work ethic.

With an extensive business network both at home and overseas, joining STEP as a Board Adviser will enable Tom to encourage local businesses to grow internationally and ensure that they are guided to the best sources of support to achieve this.